Another Sunset
by The Tambourine Man
Summary: It was just supposed to be another prank.
1. Chapter 1

Nights, Ene reflected, were the worst. Having Shintaro's computer at her beck and call was far better than laying in bed an hour or two, waiting to get back to sleep, but the lack of change and activity could be rather boring. She mostly spent her nights plotting some new prank or another, but on this particular night she was feeling more angry than mischievous. Shintaro talked about himself as some up-and-coming music producer, and happily told others how awful their creations where.

As of yesterday, it had been three weeks since he had even opened his music program.

Ene opened the program and looked through what Shin had saved. The longest song was a whopping three measures. She fought back a scream. This was what the so-called genius was capable of? At this rate, he might have a one-minute song ready to play when the Apocalypse came. Anyone could do better than him, easily.

And that was when the wheels started turning in her head. She was going to make sure he was thinking about music the next day. It should help him make progress. Or drive him up the wall. Either was an acceptable outcome. She made sure the speakers were off, so the surprise wouldn't be ruined. Then she set to work. For all the time she'd spent listening to music and watching Shin critique it, composition seemed like it should be easy. She ended up spending most of the night before she got a song with about the right effect. But it was still missing something.

Lyrics, that was what it needed. Except she had no idea what to write them about. Something exciting. Something memorable. She felt her mind reaching back into her old life. She shook her head. It was best to let the past be, she always told herself. But now that she was trying to avoid it, it was impossible to not think about. The deluge of joy and regret wasn't far away, and it was actually bringing with it a few ideas. Ultimately, she gave up and went with it.

 _The Next Morning_

For once, Shintaro Kisaragi was actually able to sleep in. He began to feel a growing sense of hope, which was quashed as soon as he turned on the monitor of his computer.

"Good morning, Master!" came the all-too-familiar voice of Ene. "Did you sleep well last night?" she said, quietly reveling as she watched his eye twitch.

"What did you do?" He had been out of bed for two minutes, and he somehow sounded very weary.

"Why Master, what makes you think I've done anything?" said Ene, doing her best to sound innocent.

Shin didn't even give a retort. He just glared.

"I haven't been up to anything! I was busy all last night trying my hand at doing something creative." She said.

More glaring.

"I made a song for you! It's actually pretty fun. You should try it sometime." And with that, her song began blaring from the speakers and Shin found his ears full of cheery pop music.

And that was what confounded him. Ene hadn't gone out of her way to make something annoyingly awful; it actually sounded decent. The lyrics didn't seem to be mocking him either; it sounded like it was about some internal conflict. An odd choice for an upbeat song, but not anything that really upset him. Still, he didn't want to let Ene dictate anything, so he shut the music off. Ene didn't fight or protest, something he should have been suspicious of. But he didn't have anything too bad to deal with, so he happily went on with his day.

Except about five minutes later, he started humming to himself. He stopped as soon as he realized exactly what he was humming. Ene, who had been watching quietly, was suddenly smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh, guess that song was a bit of an earworm, wasn't it? Well, might as well try listening to it again." She said, apparently wanting him to start it up himself.

But Shintaro disagreed. It was a simple, obvious trick, and one Shintaro was too smart to fall for.

Two hours later, Shintaro was listening to Ene's song for the dozenth time, feeling utterly defeated. Really, this was a rather low-key antic for Ene, but the way her ode to being tongue-tied by affection was eating his attention bothered him immensely. It didn't help she was still grinning at him.

"You like it! You really like it, Master! I wrote it just for you, you know."

At that, Shin stiffened. His mind began to draw things together. Feelings that can't be expressed? Ene staying with him all the time? Her playful antagonism? A song about not being able to say something, written just for him? He felt his heart pounding. That's not it. That couldn't be it. Ene probably couldn't feel that way. It's just another part of a prank. But the idea didn't seem to be going away anytime soon. He had to ask.

"Ene, why exactly did you write this song?" It came out with a very measured, controlled tone. That got Ene's attention.

"Oh? I just did it for fun. I need something to do-"

"The lyrics, Ene. Why did you write them that way?"

"Huh?" This wasn't what Shin was hoping for. Ene was surprised, off-guard. When did that ever happen? "I-it's just pop music! No one cares about the lyrics!" She was _flustered_ now. Shin had never felt so anxious to be right about something.

"And you made something I'd listen to repeatedly. Ene, were you trying to tell me something?"

"What do you mean?"

He took a moment to gather he thoughts, to review, to see if there was any other good explanation. "Ene… This song, is it a confession?"

At that, Ene just stared. Finally, she said-or rather, snapped- "Not for you!"

And yet, as the words were leaving her lips, she realized she wasn't entirely sure.

 **Author's Note: My first Kagerou Daze fanfic. I just got the first novel in English and enjoyed Ene way too much to not write al least something about her. But while the story just started as an idea for a creative prank, it started to take on a different element the more I thought about it. Ene and Shintaro aren't my favorite pairing, but I kind of liked playing with the idea.**

 **Three guesses what song Ene created, and if you need two I've done something wrong.**


	2. Chapter 2

"So it is for someone? Who?" Shintaro asked. He wanted to believe her. He wanted so very badly to believe her and put the whole thing behind him and go back to his very productive and fulfilling life. But he seldom believed her, even before she had written her infectious ode to emotional constipation. So he was going to press on, explore the matter and ensure that Ene would not be introducing even more complication into his life.

That was the only reason he wanted to know anything else. Definitely.

"Pff! That's… that's not important…" Ene always wanted Shintaro to focus on something, _anything_ other than himself. And, of course, now he's actually thinking about something else, and she's starting to worry and isn't sure what to say-

No, she told herself. Takane was the one who always worried. Takane was dead. Ene didn't worry like that. If she couldn't win the game, she'd just knock the whole thing over. "Why are you worried about this so much anyways?" She had to stay in control, even if that meant pushing him back some. "Do you really want me to be in love with you?" Shintaro seemed to flinch at the idea. But suddenly, there it was. She hadn't gotten much done in the last few months. So try a different approach. Don't just upend a conversation. Upend the whole dynamic and _make_ Shintaro deal with something new.

Her face lit back up with its typical excitement. "Oho! That's it isn't it? Oh, how could I ever be so foolish?" she said theatrically. "By your side, day after day, your only light in the darkness. I should have known you'd be helpless against my charms."

Shintaro snorted, "What charms?" And then, the full weight of her words hit him. "Wait, what are you suggesting?" Dread had somehow managed to make his typical mumble even quieter.

"What else? You've clearly fallen for me, Master." Ene said, feeling her ebullience grow past it's typical limit.

Shintaro took a moment to process. "No." Still quiet. "No. No. No! No!" Less quiet. "NoNONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!" Loud enough to hurt his throat.

"I know. Master and servant, such a scandal!" she said in a tone too overwrought to be in a soap opera. "So close, yet always a world apart."

How, he wondered, did Ene qualify as his servant when she never did anything he wanted her to? "Would you just stop?"

"You need to be honest with your feelings. You'll only hurt yourself if you don't." She'd meant to keep hamming it up, but somehow it came out soft and stern.

"I _am_ being honest!" Shintaro was starting to think that he should've dropped the target. But he wouldn't admit that, agitated as he was, he had forgotten his anxiety. "Why would I fall in love with someone like you?"

 _Well, I know_ that, Ene thought to herself. _But it's not as hard as you'd think._ "It's easy to get attached when you spend all your time with someone." _I'm the one who gives you the attention you want. And you give me-_

Oh, time for this routine again. Shintaro had gotten annoyed with her enough to try deleting her. She waited patiently while he clicked the confirmation box. The feeling of breaking down that followed was still awful, but she'd learned the importance of keeping a smile on her face while it happened. And then, once she was practically gone, she opened her eyes. She felt a familiar burning in them. And then she was back on his screen, still smiling. _Why do you keep doing that? Don't you realize it always ends the same way? Or maybe, you do?_

And all the fight went out of Shintaro when she came back. Again. "I know it's hard, but you don't have to be scared, master. I accept your feelings for me!" She leaned forward, awaiting Shintaro's response. He seemed to be at a loss for words, probably because he was too happy. Probably. "I'm glad you feel that way, master. I really hope our relationship can work out."

"R-relationship? RELATIONSHIP? I thought you said you didn't have feelings for me?"

"I only said I didn't write the song about you." She said, punctuating the last bit by batting her eyelashes. Shintaro would've found it cute coming from almost anyone else.

"What about the other guy, then? Why can't he be your boyfriend?" 

"Th- that- that didn't… work out so well…" For a minute, she sounded like she was going to cry. "But I'm here with you now, and that's what's important!"

"I don't want to be in a relationship with a kid, Ene." In truth, Ene didn't look that young- around Momo's age, maybe a year younger. But he needed to take any chance he could get.

"Oh, good. I'm older than you are, master!" Shintaro glared at what seemed an obvious lie. Ene just looked lost in thought. "But… Now that I think about it, it's kind of weird to call your boyfriend "Master", isn't it? So, from now on, it's going to be "Shintaro" – No, "Shin"."

Well, that was it. Shintaro had driven the matter to its conclusion and created precisely the horrible situation he had hoped wasn't going to happen. Now what horrors was she going to inflict on him? Bugging him constantly, never leaving him alone, making insincere gestures of affection-

About how she typically acted, in other words. Shintaro collapsed back into his chair, smiling in relief as it hit him. What could Ene do to get on his nerves any more that she already did? Even changing the way she addressed him wasn't really significant- even if her tone always sounded sincere, it always felt mocking to call him "Master." Besides, how long did she actually stay after one shtick? She'd probably get bored after a week and subject him to a melodramatic "breakup", if she didn't just forget all about it. Really, what had he been so scared of?

"Aw, you really are happy about this, aren't you, Shin? That's great! Of course, now that we're in a relationship, we're going to have to make a few changes around here…" Shintaro watched in horror as his computer brought up a prompt, asking "Are you sure you want to delete folder "Carnal Graveyard"?" Shintaro frantically scratched the mouse across his desk, banged on the keyboard, tried to do anything to get control of the computer. Ene, currently looking at him with disappointment, had apparently locked out any input. "Shin, if we want this to work, we have to be willing to make sacrifices." And with that, she clicked yes.

Shintaro, probably touched by her gesture, was moved to tears.

 **Author's Note: This chapter was difficult to write. I wasn't sure which way I wanted to take the story, took a break from writing until after the Headphone Actor novel came out to help me with Ene's character, and at one point deleted the whole chapter and started over from scratch. This story will probably come out to five chapters, with what'll probably be a short epilogue. Enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

It was odd sight, Momo, thought to herself, for her brother to spend this much time out of his room. Ordinarily, that might be cause for hope that he would actually start doing something. But all he was doing was sitting at the table, staring off into space, wide-eyed, and occasionally taking a sip of cola. She wanted to think it was just her brother being a drama queen. It would be easier that way.

"Hey, Shintaro, something wrong?" Life was never easy.

He turned his gaze to her, slowly. Had he not even noticed her until now?

"I have a girlfriend."

Momo had to ask him to repeat it. It sounded like he had said "girlfriend" but from the tone of his sentence, it should've been the name of some horrible disease.

Yes, she had heard him right. So what was up? Had he finally lost his mind and begun hallucinating? It seems like being delusional should make him happier than this.

"Well, that's… great… What's she like?"

"She's evil."

 **SCENE**

Three minutes. That was all he got this time. Three minutes into trying to write his song, and she shut down the program again.

"Why do you keep doing that!?" It wasn't a huge loss, precisely; He had the whole song figured out in his head at this point. "You're the one who's always giving me crap about writing a song!" He had most likely put more work into composing in the last two weeks than in the previous eighteen months.

"Shin, it's your _first_ song! Your debut! This is what's going to win you a fanbase. Do you think anyone will pay attention to you if it's just, 'Waah, my girlfriend killed herself because I'm a jerk?'" It wasn't entirely a lie; it was certainly the last song Ene wanted to hear.

"That's not what that song's about, and you know it!"

"Eh, you're still too gloomy." He barely bothered to focus. Why was it that when he did, it was just to fixate on something depressing? "The people want something _happy._ If you want to be successful, you have to give people what they want."

Again with the glaring.

"C'mon, I'm just trying to help. You want to be a star, don't you?" He perked up at that. "Your music everywhere, your name known to all. Enough money to move out of your mom's place-"

"Wait, what?" Shintaro said, his brief reverie at the thought of success broken.

"Don't you want to have a place to ourselves? There's some _really_ nice apartments downtown. See?" This was apparently something she'd been putting a lot of thought into, since she opened a new window full of listings. "This one here is cheap, and there's plenty of room for both of us." She said, pointing to a dingy-looking apartment that promised the previous owner _probably_ hadn't been murdered there. "But this one looks beautiful." It did indeed. They could live comfortably there, as long as they could find a new king to ransom every month.

"No."

"No? Well, what about a nice little place out in the country?" And, _of course,_ she had listings for those as well. "Who wouldn't love a quiet home out in nature?" The answer to that should've been obvious. He wouldn't mind being away from other people – and life with Ene made living in a cave sound appealing – but nature meant noisy birds, mosquitoes, mud, and packs of feral dogs that would maul him if he ever left his house. There wasn't much Ene could do to make the prospect any worse.

"Wouldn't it be a great place to raise our kids?" The words where out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. She was straining to keep a smile on her face.

Shintaro, however, was having too much trouble processing her words to notice. "..kids?" he said finally, in an abnormally weak voice.

"Yep." Keep going and he won't notice. Hopefully.

"…kids?"

"That's what I said."

"Kids?"

"Yeah: kids, plural. Probably twelve. At least."

"Kids!?"

"What? Shin, it's lonely being an only child. You don't know what it's like!"

"You didn't miss much." Harsh, but it seemed like his brain had finally managed to reboot. "Besides, we can't have kids. You don't even have a body."

"Hmph! Shin, don't you know how to talk about these things _delicately_? Do you know how much it hurts to tell someone that they can't do something? You can't about things like that so flippantly!"

"Does that mean you're dumping me?" Shintaro asked hopefully.

"Oh, don't worry, Shin. You know I could never stay mad at you!" Especially when forgiving him caused more frustration.

Shintaro simply sighed, before trying to restart his music sequencer. This time, Ene shut it down almost immediately. "Oh, come on! Just let me write the song!" It was all Shintaro wanted to do. Why couldn't she just let him have that?

"Well… okay!"

Maybe he was wrong about her. Maybe Ene really wasn't a bad person.

"I just want you to do one liiiittle thing for me."

Why did he keep making the mistake of hoping?

"I want you to take me on a date. Movies. Shopping. Dinner. A whole day of just you and me outside this boring little room."

"What!?"

"I know, right? My help just for a day of fun? It's a steal!"

"Like hell I'm leaving."

"Okay. I guess you're okay with not getting that song made, then."

For a minute, it looked like Shintaro was going to scream, and then- "Fine."

"Well, have it your way- WHAT?"

"I'll take you… out… AFTER I get my song made. And posted."

For once Ene was speechless. Shintaro opened the music sequencer once again and got to work.

 **SCENE**

The sun had already risen high into the sky when Shintaro awoke. Naturally, the first thing he did was go to his computer. Ene, smiling as usual, greeted him.

"Well, let's hear it." Shintaro said.

"Hear what?"

"My song. You told I'd been working too late, that I needed to go to bed, and that you'd finish tuning it for me. " And she'd been quite vehement on the matter. "Now, let's hear it"

"Oh, I deleted it."

It wasn't surprising. All he could say was a weary "Why?"

"Well, I don't think anyone really wanted to-"

"Not that. Why do you do anything? Why do you always make things so difficult?"

"Well, I think you already know the answer to that."

"You did it because… because…"

"Because, " said Ene, grinning widely. "You deserve to be miserable."

"Huh?"

"Well, that's all you've ever done for any one else, isn't it, Shin?" And suddenly, she wasn't on the screen any more. She was there, in the flesh. Sitting on his lap, an inch from his face. "All you do is mope and whine. But you're happy to take other people's help. You take and take without ever showing gratitude or care. You just suck them dry like a leech."

"W-what the hell are you talking about?"

She smiled now, not a happy or mischievous look but a predatory grin. "Oh, did you really forget? Or do you just not want to admit that you remember? Such a cruel and callous fool." Shintaro realized that he couldn't move. "Really, it's for the best that you've stuck yourself here." She leaned in to whisper in his ear. "And you know what else?"

And with that, she let out a horrible screech. Everything around Shintaro faded into grey, and for a moment, he couldn't tell what was up or down. When the world started to resolve itself back into shapes, Shintaro realized that he was still in bed.

And that horrible racket was coming from his computer.

"Good morning, Shin!"

Shintaro just stared.

"Is the new alarm okay? Really, I think it needs some more work-"

"Ene, why are you here?"

"To make sure you don't sleep in. Your song's ready to go and I've got a lot planned for today."

"That's not what I mean. Why are you on _my_ computer? Why are you with me?"

"Oh, was that what your nightmare was about? 'Why would an amazing girl like Ene be interested in me?' Well, don't worry, Shin. I love having a clueless guy to fuss over!"

"Really?" Shintaro asked, with a bit more curiosity than annoyance.

"Of course! I want to see you smile."

From the look on his face, Shintaro didn't believe her.

"What? I do!" That didn't mean she couldn't have some fun along the way, though.

"The song, you really finished it?"

"Of course! It sounds great."

"So let's here it." Ene obliged. The room was filled with mellow, melancholy electric music as the digital diva sang of almost finding her way out of despair. Surprisingly, she had tuned it about the way he wanted her to.

Ene looked at him expectantly. "It does sound better than it did last night-" she looked ready to cheer- "But it still needs work. "

"It sounds fine! It's good to go! You just don't want to leave!"

Shintaro sighed. "Look, just give me a more time. You're the one who said I needed a big debut, right? We can go out once I'm done. I promise."

Ene reluctantly started watching Shintaro work, crossing her arms and grumbling just quietly enough that he couldn't make out exactly what she was saying.

"Oh, and Ene? Thanks."

Ene stared? Shintaro thanking her, even if he didn't sound very grateful?

Maybe she was making progress.

 **Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, but my life's gotten pretty busy. I'm also starting to realize that this story is much harder on a conceptual level than any of my other stories: I want to show the character's relationship gradually changing, but this is the first story I've done that's heavy on character** _ **development.**_ **I feel like I've got a good sense of the characters- or at least Ene- but it always takes a few tries to get interactions that sound about right. And even then, it's not always easy to get across the subtleties of their relationship; I'm always worried about either being too obvious or too obtuse. Rest assured though, I'm not giving up on it.**


	4. Chapter 4

So this was it. Shintaro Kisaragi was about to end his nineteen-month hermitage. He took his old red jacket out of storage. He wouldn't dream of going outside with it- that, and spring weather still hadn't set in yet. He was as ready to go as he would ever be. There was just one question.

"How are you going to go anywhere?" He asked Ene. He briefly pictured himself attempting to lug his computer and monitor around town. It was both a terrible plan and precisely the sort of thing Ene would tell him to do.

Ene didn't say anything right away. She disappeared from his monitor. A second later, his phone started ringing.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, It's Ene!"

He pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the screen. Ene was indeed on the phone. "You can fit on my phone?"

"Duh! A girl as advanced as me can fit on any device."

Shintaro's eyebrows knitted in annoyance. "Then why do you take up so much space on my hard drive?"

"I'm a lot less compressed on your computer. This phone is kind of a tight fit, really."

 _Less_ compressed. _Less._ "You eat up most of my hard drive! How big are you?"

Ene gave an indignant _humph._ "Have you no manners, Shin? Asking a girl about her file size? The nerve!"

Shintaro sighed. He put his phone in his pocket, and put one of his ear buds in his ear. It was going to be a long day, and he couldn't go trying his sanity already.

He'd gotten as far as the door, starting to put his shoes on, when his mother saw what he was doing.

"You're… going… out?" She asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah."

"You're going out?" Surprised.

"Yes."

"You're going out?" Jubilant.

"Yes, mother. I am going out. I will be gone for most of the day."

"Shintaro, that's wonderful!" It wasn't a big deal, nor was an event likely to repeat. Why did she have to seem so pleased with it? "What are you going to be doing?"

"Stuff." Left shoe on.

"What kind of stuff?"

"Arcade. Movies. Other stuff." Right shoe on. "See you later." He was going out now. His hand was on the knob. He still hated to leave, but he did not want to have to explain this absurdity to his mother.

But his faithful servant/girlfriend/tormentor was always there to give him what he didn't want. "Tell her!"

Loud. Very loud. Right in his ear. Shintaro couldn't help but wince, and Ene's rejoinders didn't let up. He dug around in his pocket for his phone.

"Quiet! I don't need to say anything else!"

Now his mother was staring.

"Someone on the phone?" And Momo had come and joined, probably to see what the yelling was about.

"Yes, yes she is. Even though she should really just be quiet and let me get going."

"Oh! It's your evil girlfriend, isn't it?"

"Evil? Y-y-you called me evil?" Ene sniffled. "Shin, how could you say such a thing?" Her eyes were full of tears. Ene's ability to go from manic tyrant to kicked puppy was a sight to behold.

"Ene, hey, c'mon. That was just a joke. I know you're not _that_ bad…" Shintaro prayed he was lying effectively.

"R-really?

"Yeah! Besides, it's just Momo. You shouldn't listen to her-"

"Hey!"

"Yeah. You don't have to cry. You know I like you!" Well, the lying seemed to be feeling more natural.

"Okay!" Ene said, her eyes drying out instantly. Was he ever going to stop falling for her tricks? He doubted it.

"Right, so, Bye, Mo-" Shintaro looked back up from his phone to see that his mother was gone. "Uh, hey, Mom?"

A second later, she walked back into the front room, holding a small stack of bills. "Here you go." She offered the stack to him. Shintaro hesitated, thinking about how his mother furrowed her brows and bit her lip every time the bills came.

"Mom…"

"Just a little won't hurt. I want to make sure you two have fun on your date."

"Mom… it's not like…" He looked at his mother. She was smiling at him. _Smiling._ She seldom even smiled. He couldn't remember the last time it had been because of him.

He took the money and put it in his pocket. "Thanks, Mom."

 **-Scene-**

It was early march, and spring weather hadn't started. Except for the odd Pear covered in white, the trees were still bare. The sky was a dull grey, blotted out but with no chance for rain. Shintaro drew his jacket closer; It wasn't really cold, but any temperature was difficult after living so long in air conditioning.

"Take a left here." Ene said into his ear. He would be completely lost without her. The city had grown up so much over the last year and a half that he found himself in an unrecognizable labyrinth of concrete.

"And there it is!" 'There' being one brightly colored, four-story building wedged into the adjacent row of buildings. The interior was air conditioned, carrying the added warmth of numerous electronics and a subtle but distinct aroma. Perhaps this jaunt wouldn't be so bad after all.

He headed straight for the light gun games. He stooped to swipe his card in the machine, and as soon as he paid he heard the sound of the game accepting a player. Looking at the screen was just a reflex; he knew he was going to see Ene there. She didn't even say anything. She just looked at him, expectantly. Shintaro swiped again and hit the button for player one.

"Isn't that cheating?" he asked her.

"Noooo. There's no fun in that. Beating you fair and square is going to be so much better."

The game began. There was some story about a pair of cops fighting robots. Shintaro chose to give the story as much attention as its writers had, and so ignored it entirely. Ene repeated zipped on and off the screen, somehow having obtained her own functional-enough light gun. Shintaro was surprised to see that she was honest; her playing was too imperfect to be cheating. Her approach was a mix of showmanship, strategy, and, in Shintaro's opinion, sloppiness. By the time they reached the end of the game, Shintaro was still up by quite a few points. Ene made it to third place on the high score list. Shintaro made it to first.

Ene crossed her arms and gave a childish pout. It was a good look for her, Shintaro thought. Even though some voice in the back of his head said that she was going to make him pay for it. Ene disappeared and reappeared on another game.

"Best of three."

The second match went much the same as the first. And a moment after it was over, Ene was on yet another light gun game.

"I already won two."

"Yeah, but let's play three anyways." Shintaro turned to walk away. "Oh, come on! Don't you want to play some more?" Shintaro hesitated for just a moment before paying two credits into the machine. "And do me a little favor, would you? Could you set you phone up on the console there?" Shintaro let out an annoyed sigh as he acquiesced.

Match three went much the same as the last two, with the exception of Ene occasionally shifting out of the game to take a picture from his camera. When it was over, Ene stared at him, not saying anything. What was she going to do? Would she be a good sport? She already deleted her best blackmail material, but who knows what else she might have.

"Don't you dare tell me I suck."

Shintaro sighed. He could go on and on about everything she'd messed up. He could rub in victory. "I guess you weren't so bad…" It wasn't a lie. She was at least better than some of the players who had been there before them. Ene stared at him like he'd just grown a second head. She was trying to process what she'd just heard. A comment like that was basically Shintaro's equivalent of being nice. "Come on, let's go.

 **-Scene-**

Lunch was a brief affair. Shintaro had a cheap bowl of noodles and a soda. Ene, being digital, did not eat anything.

"So, what's next?" asked Shintaro, in a tone implying that the best possible answer was, "Nothing."

"We've got a movie next. They're showing… I can't remember the title. Some romantic comedy. Looked really boring to me."

"I am not watching some boring movie just because you told me to."

"I picked it out for _you._ You love that sappy junk!"

"W-what the hell are you talking about!?" Shintaro sputtered.

"You're always watching those shoujo anime. Remember last week, when you started crying so much over-"

That, it seemed, was all Shintaro could take. He pulled his earbud out and shoved it in his pocket. He could hear Ene, faintly. There was something refreshing about being able to focus on himself again. It felt like he could do what ever he wanted.

A man walking the other way brushed past him.

He headed towards the theater. That movie actually did sound good. It was Ene's problem if she couldn't appreciate good cinema.

He took a left at the next intersection, and went straight through the next one. What was the rest of the route? Looks like he was going to need Ene's help – or at least, his phone. She wasn't going to be happy about being ignored. She was probably already pissed at him.

So why had she seemingly fallen silent?

He hadn't heard her say anything for several minutes. Confused, her reached into his pocket. His phone was gone. He checked his other pocket; he still had his money and his wallet, but no sign of his phone. He turned and began retracing his steps, scanning the ground. Where could his phone have gone?

 **-Scene-**

Ene was not terribly pleased. She had grown used to –perhaps even spoiled by- Shin never being able to actually stay away from her. He couldn't bear to be away from his computer for long, after all. Didn't Shin know it was rude to shove people into your pocket when they're trying to talk?

He might not, actually. His social skills weren't very good to begin with. Staying in his house for so long had probably let them atrophy. She just needed to let him know.

"Listen to me, you jerk! Do you even know where you're going!?" And so on. Expressing her anger had never been a challenge. She stopped her ranting when she finally got a glimpse of light.

Only to be immediately shoved back into the darkness. And then the power was shut off, leaving her in a pitch-black space devoid of the electric warmth she had come to take for granted. This led to even louder ranting, despite having no one to hear her. He did he have to shove everyone away? Why did he have to shove _her_ away?

But then, had he treated Ayano any better? She'd always been more acquiescent to him, and he always just _tolerated_ her.

And how much did it hurt him to lose Ayano?

Did he need her like that? She felt a familiar thudding in her chest-

Ene shook her head. That was enough thinking for now. She needed to get ready to deal with Shin. Start with a little reprogramming; replace his phone's typical start-up sound with something more dissonant.

Not long after, the phone turned back on. "Well, look like you-" Ene trailed off and looked in shock at the unfamiliar face holding the phone. "Who the hell are you?"

 **I said it was going to be five chapters. Make that six; I didn't realize how long this one would be.**


	5. Chapter 5

Shintaro collapsed onto a bench. He had walked to the restaurant and back three times. The movie had started already, although that was far from Shintaro's mind. There was no sign of his phone anywhere. He shouldn't be worried, really. Being away from Ene had been what he'd wanted for some time. Just like those wonderful days before he'd met her. He couldn't pick out much of anything from that year in his memory, but he'd had everything he wanted there, so it must have been happy. What could happen to Ene, anyways?

 _There she is, in his phone, in some strange man's hand. She's crying- truly crying, not faking this time. She looks terrified. And then, the fingers close and the phone is crushed to pieces._

Shintaro felt a chill. His breathing had just become very shallow. He tried to draw it deeper, to calm himself down. It was just his imagination. Just his imagination. Just. His. Imagination.

 _"It's your fault. It's because you never noticed anything."_

Shintaro staggered back to his feet and continued his search.

 **-SCENE** **-**

It was a familiar routine; a quick hand in the pocket when bumping into someone, get some money or something he could sell. In this case, all he'd gotten was a several-year-old phone. He ducked into an alley to check it out. It was a disappointing haul, really. The phone itself would probably only be a few hundred yen. It would be worth it to check the data, though. There might be something useful there.

Things started going wrong as soon as he'd hit the power button. The phone answered him with an ear-splitting racket, followed by a voice.

"Well, looks like you- Who the hell are you?"

There was a girl in the phone. A girl with deep blue hair tied into pigtails and a blue jacket so big the sleeves stretched well past her hands. Her eyes had the same unnaturally deep blue color.

"No, seriously, stop staring and tell me who the hell you are."

A virus, or a program for lonely people? It didn't matter. He was going to get something out of this phone. He opened the email inbox-

Only for the program to immediately shut itself off. "Answer me." Must be a virus.

He tried opening the email again, and was met with another immediate closure. "Okay, guess that's all I need to know." She took a deep breath, before letting out a torrent of aural abuse. "Help! Thief! Thief! He's stealing a phone! Help! Hel-"

Shutting the phone seemed like a really good idea at that point. Abandoning the phone also seemed like a good idea, but he was determined to not let it be a total loss.

He didn't make it very far before he was once again assailed by the wretched sound of the phone turning on.

"Help! Abduction! Kidnapping! Help!"

No, this wasn't a virus. This was a phone from hell. The original owner was probably off celebrating his good luck. This situation called for a calm and rational solution.

"Stop yelling, you stupid bitch!" He was not feeling very calm and rational today.

"Umm, Excuse me? Sir?" He turned to face the newcomer; a boy in his mid-teens, strong-looking, wearing a green jacket and riding a bike. "Is something going on here? I heard…"

"Oh, sorry about the noise. I just got a little malware on my phone. It's been giving me a real headache. Thanks for worrying, though."

The boy looked at him quizzically. "A virus is yelling like that?"

"Yeah, some of these things really drive you up the wall. Nothing to worry about, though."

"He's lying." It was the girl in the phone again, though at least she was keeping the volume reasonable. "I know this isn't his phone. He stole it from Shintaro Kisaragi."

The boy seemed to perk up at the name. "That doesn't sound like a virus."

"It's a very advanced vi-"

"Stop calling me a virus, thief."

"Uh, sir? Could I please see the phone for a moment?"

"You know what? _You know what?_ Here you go." The man said, handing the phone over without any further argument.

"Oh," the boy said, looking down at the phone, thank you very –" When he looked back up, the man was already turning the corner out of the alley.

 **SCENE**

Shintaro was ready to collapse. It seemed that life as a shut-in had not been good for his fitness. He'd tried walking that stretch of road again. He'd tried back tracking to the arcade. When that had failed to turn up any trace of his phone, he'd ended up searching aimlessly and getting lost.

His fear had lost its urgent edge, but he still couldn't bring himself to rest. At the same time, he was out of ideas. He couldn't simply go up to everyone on the street and ask if they had seen a phone. And if someone had stolen it…

Ene was fine, in all likelihood. She probably sent herself back to his email. He would probably find his way home late at night, and be greeted by her mockery ( _and maybe a little concern_ ) when he arrived.

He saw, once again, that vision of her crying before the phone was crushed. Ridiculous. Just his imagination. Besides, Ene must have backups of herself on some other machine. That must be how she brought herself back whenever he tried deleting her. If the machine she was on were destroyed, she wouldn't really be gone.

These were reasonable assumptions.

Assumptions did not give Shintaro a quantum of comfort.

When had he even started caring about Ene so much? He couldn't say. It's not like he disliked her instantly. She could be enjoyable to be around- on rare occasions. But as soon as she might be in real danger, all the thoughts about going to the movies or watching anime or telling off some wannabe Vocaloid producer disappeared like a thin cloud in a strong wind.

He kept going.

 **SCENE**

The boy ( _Kousuke, didn't he say?_ ) Held the phone aloft, giving her a good view of the street.

"No, I don't see him here, either."

"No? Isn't that him there?"

"No…"

"Oh! Isn't that-"

"That's a girl. Shin may not be the most masculine guy, but c'mon."

"Hehe, sorry. Could I see the picture again?"

Ene let out a theatrical sigh. The picture came back up, showing a young man in a red jacket in an arcade, holding the gun for a shooter game. He had a small smile on his face. The last bit was certainly an unusual sight. It was a shame, too, since it made him look- well, not _handsome._ Obviously. But it gave him an air of friendliness he seldom showed.

"Do you think you can find him now? He's going to be lost without me."

"Hm? Is he that bad with directions?"

"…Well, that too."

 **SCENE**

Shintaro collapsed. He simply didn't have the strength to walk anymore. This was it. The end. Exhaustion would claim him here. He would perish here on the street at the mere age of eighteen, although he certainly felt far older than that. Maybe he could get his life to flash before his eyes?

Ah, there it goes. He could see his father's face clearly, even after all these years, smiling at one of the many tests he had gotten a perfect score on. He remembered when Ene had first arrived on his computer, and he felt the promise of some grand adventure ahead (even though that never panned out). He remembered sitting on the couch with Momo, both enraptured by one of the few shows they both enjoyed. He shared an all-too-rare pleasant chat with Ene. He remembered spending time after school with the always-joyful Haruka and his grouchy not-girlfriend ( _but there was someone else there too)._ He and Ene-

He scowled. Couldn't his brain make his final moments a bit less Ene-centric?

"Shin, shouldn't you get up?" Great. Now he was hearing her, too. If this is what his brain was going to do, then perhaps dying wasn't so bad.

"Shintaro, wasn't it? You really should get up."

Shintaro opened his eyes. There was a young man standing over him, holding a phone. His phone.

"Wha?" Shintaro asked, confused.

"Here, I think you lost this." Seto said, handing him his phone.

Shintaro should have thanked him. Instead he just stared dumbly at the phone.

"I'm back! Did you miss me?"

More staring.

"Shin? Are you okay?" Surely he wouldn't come apart from just a few hours apart.

"…Of course I'm fine." He said finally. "Thank you for returning my phone." He said, walking away without glancing back at Seto.

"So, what'd you do while I was out? How was the movie?"

"I didn't see it." Shintaro said, exhaustion clear in his voice.

"Oh? Why not?" Shintaro averted his gaze. "Aww, you were out looking for me because you were worried about me, weren't you?"

"I-I… I wasn't worried…"

"Hmm… Let me guess, 'I wasn't looking for you because I like you or anything,' right?"

"Yes!" Shintaro blanched as the real meaning of that phrase hit him. "No! no! That's not it at all!"

"So, you were worried because you like me?"

Shintaro hung his head in defeat.

"Well, don't worry. I wasn't worried about you because I like you or anything, either."

Shintaro put his phone back in his pocket, missing the faint blush appearing on Ene's cheeks.

 **Author's Note: This one feels more hit-or-miss than other chapters. Sometimes, the only way I can get through writer's block is to just run with my first idea, regardless of how good it is. Only one chapter (and an epilogue) to go.**


	6. Chapter 6

Shintaro had never been so tired. It had grown too hard to keep his eyelids open. He let them fall-

And was jolted back to wakefulness by the loud sound coming from his phone. Ene was glaring at him from the screen; He didn't have the energy to glare back at her.

"You can't keep me awake forever."

"Says you." She punctuated it with more noise. At least she had started using music and not just grating noise.

"Stop it."

"I will, if you'd just stay awake."

"I can't."

"…Of course you can, Shin. You're a genius, right? Can't you figure anything out?"

Shintaro shifted slightly, a weak attempt at making himself more comfortable. "Just give me a few minutes. Then you can wake me up." He couldn't find the energy to yell.

"You're not going to wake up! You know that!" Shintaro had closed his eyes again, only to be awoken by several more booming measures. "Come on, Shin! Just because you're a histrionic pervert doesn't mean I don't like being around you. Do you have any idea how boring nights get by myself?"

"…Really?" Even with his voice that weak, there was a note of disbelief to it.

"Of course! Ever since I started living with you, I've had a lot more fun than I used to! I smile more. I talk more. I try all sorts of new things! And not _all_ of them to mess with you. I don't think I've ever been happier!" Her eyes grew wide. "I don't think… I've ever been… happier…"

It didn't make any sense. Better than living with her family? Than her days with Haruka in that little storeroom? Better than the days when she had a whole world to explore ( _even though she never had)_.

"That's… pretty sad…" Well, at least he had the energy to be a wiseass.

"Well, I wasn't _miserable_ without you. But… I used to be a lot like you."

Shintaro raised an eyebrow.

"I was always worried and panicking and freaking out. I was always stressing out over how everyone saw me, even when I looked down on all of them."

Was he glaring, or were his eyes shutting again? It was too dark to see, so she gave him another burst of music just in case.

"But when I finally found you again… I wanted to see you smile."

That managed to elicit a chuckle from Shintaro. She wasn't lying, though. Takane's biggest problem had always been her fear. Everything seemed like it was wrong, or like it was about to go wrong.

"You want to be liked? Well, I _do_ like you. That's worth staying awake for, right?"

Shintaro didn't respond. Another series of loud tones rang out in the vast, cavernous space.

Shintaro blinked, looking down at his phone. Ene gave him a labored smile back.

"And, you know what else? You might actually become a big producer. You actually do know a lot about music." A surprising amount, really. When had he actually studied any of it? "That song you wrote really was good. Isn't that worth staying awake for?"

Shintaro briefly lifted himself off the console he had slumped against, carefully keeping his other hand pressed against the growing wet patch on his stomach. He quickly collapsed again.

"I… can't."

Ene gave up even trying to smile. "Come on, just a little longer! Help will be here soon, Shin. You're going to be okay!"

One look told her he didn't believe that.

"But… I mean, still… I… Theses last few months… thank you. You actually weren't a terrible boy friend."

"Leave."

Just go. Don't be there. Let the person you – _care about_ – die alone, again.

"No. It's not over."

"Get… out of …here." His breaths were getting slower, more forced. "If you… want me… happy… go…"

"Heh. You'll never be happy if you get what you want. And, if things don't… go well, _which they won'tl-"_ She was having trouble convincing herself, now, "I want you to know… It isn't the end. Of course, you should've known a super advanced girl like me would have one of the most important answers." She saw herself; laid out in that lab- the same one they were in now, wasn't it?

"Go…" He was sounding more desperate.

"No. I'm not leaving you. I'm going to stay with you. And even if you don't make it out… You'll still be somewhere. And no matter where you are, no matter how long it takes, I'll find you again, Shin."

She started playing the music again, at a less-than-booming volume. That same song she had written not so long ago. Even with so little energy left, he still managed a smile. It seems it had helped Ene get better at expressing herself. It got Ene to return who cute- it really was cute, wasn't it?- smile.

His joy was brief, unfortunately, as he just barely heard the sound of footsteps, quiet but getting closer. He saw that image of his phone being crushed again. The last words he said were, "Please, go…"

 **Author's Note: There's a reason I kept mentioning the epilogue. I'll try to get it posted before the thirtieth.**


	7. Epilogue

Shintaro took a long drink of soda. His throat was parched after having to tell the story. "So, yes, I did have a girlfriend." He looked across the restaurant's table at his two companions, waiting for them to speak.

Ene –it was still hard to reconcile that she was really Ene, but she refused to go by Takane anymore- had been red-faced for most of the story. Her mouth moving showed she was trying to say something, but she seemed to be having trouble making any actual sounds.

"You did ask." Shintaro said, flashing a cocky smile.

"W-well… well…" There was her voice. "Well, obviously, you made that up. I would never go back on my promise to be you servant, Master." Ene replied, raising the volume on the last word just enough to get the attention of the people around them.

"D-don't! I told you not to call me that in public!" So much for his cockiness.

"Oh, right. You did, didn't you?" She seemed to have forgotten how to be embarrassed- unless he was the culprit "Okay. Not _in public_."

When he first saw Takane again, he had expected her to act like she had in high school; Temperamental and high-strung. Her time playing Ene would be over, and she would go back to her real self. That hadn't been the case; Ene _was_ her real self, now. He was happy not to relive the constant arguments, even if it meant Ene having a number of new ways to antagonize him.

"I believe you, Shintaro." Ayano said, quietly. She had her head inclined, letting her bangs fall in front of her eyes.

"Wha? Come on, you really think all that happened?" Ene replied.

"Do you really think I made all that up?"

"Good point. You don't have much imagination."

"Hey!"

"No, no, not like that… I could see you two coming together like that."

"You could?" Ene said quietly.

"Yeah. You two really changed. You both seem a lot… happier than you were back in school. You two were really good for each other."

"Part of that was you, Ayano. I never would have known what to do if it wasn't for what you said. "

"What did she say?" Shintaro asked.

"That you need a forceful, selfish girl to pull you out of your comfort zone." Ene replied.

"And Ene really is better at that than I ever was."

"Ayano!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

Quiet settled over the table. Shintaro's words kept playing through Ene's mind. She wanted to say it all seemed so ridiculous. Nothing like that could really happen. But hearing his story, her heart had started to race in a way that felt very familiar.

"Hey… um, Master… How many routes did you do through?"

That got Shintaro's attention. No one had asked about the lost time so directly before. Ayano perked up, seemingly eager to hear the answer herself.

"What was it? Twenty?"

"…More than that…" Shintaro answered, not making eye contact.

"A hundred?"

"…More."

Ene frowned. "What, two hundred? Three Hundred?"

Shintaro scowled. "Not even close."

"Two thousand?"

"You don't get it."

" _Ten_ thousand?"

Shintaro didn't say anything. The look on his face said it all: The real number was still far more.

"Oh, god…" Ayano was plainly concerned. Ene was simply shocked.

"So… um… How different were they? I mean, with all of those, you must have seen a lot of different things…" Ene wasn't very enthused to keep asking, but the curiosity was gnawing at her too much to let it go.

"There was _some_ variation. Some ended sooner than others. There was one that actually lasted until 2018. But if something did happen, it typically happened in many routes." Another image flashed across Shintaro's mind: Him back at his monitor with Ene, giving her a dispassionate glare, refusing to listen to her.

"So-"

"So, Ene, how's Haruka doing?" Ayano interrupted.

"Huh? Well, he's doing a lot better now that he's out of the hospital. He can walk, most of the time. He's still learning to draw again, and that's really bothering him."

"Did you tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

Ayano glared at her- the same look she had given Ene that one summer evening. "You know what I mean."

Ene did not avert her eyes. "I've told him everything I want to." She had been with Haruka regularly through his recovery. She'd helped him re-adjust to life. She'd cried with him. She'd laughed with him. She didn't feel any of the particular nervousness around him she used to. But when she realized she had all the courage to tell him how she felt, she realized that she had nothing new to tell him. "Things change."

"Oh…" was all Ayano managed to say.

Shintaro chimed in, "I can tell you one thing that never happened." There were many things he could have said. There was no route where Ene hadn't found him, nor was there a route where she left him. "I've still never lost a game to you."

He was more like Takane than he cared to admit.

Ene smiled at that. "Okay, now I _know_ you're lying about that."

Shintaro grinned back. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?"

"It's so good to see you trying to joke. You might even learn to do it right, eventually. "

"If you don't believe me, why don't we go prove it at the arcade?"

"Sure. Sounds great." Then a thought struck her. "Oh. Ayano, what do you-"

"T-that does sound… fun… but I've got to go. There's something I need to do tonight." Ayano said, keeping her head down and her eyes hidden. She put money for her share of the bill on the table. "You two have fun!" Ayano said, her voice cracking.

A few minutes later, Shintaro and Ene were walking toward the arcade. The sunset had dyed the sky a stunning shade of orange.

"You're terrible, you know." Ene said out of nowhere.

"What do you mean?"

"Ayano. Saying all that in front of her. You should be more careful around her."

"I… wasn't thinking about it. I've wanted to tell you for… a while… I just… I'm sorry." They were both silent for a moment. "Hey, wait, you-"

"Of course. You're not very subtle, you know? But next time, just ask me out."

Shintaro stared. He hadn't expected it to be so easy to win her over.

"That wasn't the only route where we were together, was it?"

"No. Just the first. It wasn't anything guaranteed, but it kept happening." Shintaro held out his hand to her. Ene looked at it, as though examining it. "If we're dating now, you might as well take it."

He had expected her to take his hand. Instead, she grabbed his whole arm and started nuzzling against his shoulder.

"Y-you don't have any shame at all, do you!?"

"Nope! Life's way more fun without it."

"You just love messing with me, don't you?"

"Yep! And I love you too, Shin." She took a moment to admire his face. His pale skin helped his blush stand out, and the brilliant red complemented the sky well.

People were staring. Shintaro was mortified.

And at that moment, there was nowhere else he'd rather be. He adjusted hs gait so he could keep up with her.

"One question, though…" Ene asked.

"What's that?"

"Do you remember how that song went?"

 **Author's Note: Yeah, I didn't want to end the story on a low note. Funny story: When I first posted this story, I meant for the first chapter to be the only one. I've got a few more ideas for Kagerou Project fanfics, though nothing of this length so far. Thanks to everyone for reading!**


End file.
